Leave without pay
Leave Without Pay (LWOP) is a period of leave during which you are not entitled to receive salary payments from your employer. For superannuation purposes, LWOP is categorised as either prescribed leave or non-prescribed leave.
Prescribed leave
A period of prescribed leave generally counts as part of the period of SASS membership for the purposes of benefit point accrual, the accrual of the employer-financed benefit and applicable Additional Employer Contributions (AEC).
A member's personal contributions continue to be payable to SASS during prescribed leave. However, in this instance the member should pay the contributions to the employer and the employer will forward contributions to the scheme administrator, Mercer, at the rate that would have been deducted from the member's salary if the member had still been at work. Mercer cannot accept personal contributions directly from the member.
If the member cannot afford to pay their personal contributions, they can apply in writing to Mercer to have their contribution rate reduced to as low as 0% for their period of prescribed LWOP.
During LWOP, the employer continues to make employer contributions (including AEC) for the member.
Where a member takes continuous prescribed sick or maternity LWOP for a period longer than two years, only the first two years are treated as prescribed LWOP. For any period of continuous LWOP in excess of two years, contributions are not payable and benefit points will not accrue.
Non-prescribed leave
Where a member takes LWOP that is not prescribed leave (such as holiday LWOP), contributions are payable in the months the LWOP starts and ends, but not for any whole months in between. Benefit points do not accrue during the months when contributions are not payable and cannot be made up when the member returns to work.
Where LWOP is less than one calendar month, the member and employer must both pay full contributions. Your employer must advise Mercer of any period of non-prescribed LWOP that exceeds five continuous working days by submitting STC Form 223: Members taking full-time ordinary LWOP (for more than five continuous days). In this situation AEC and basic benefit do not apply for the whole period during which the LWOP occurs.
For further information about prescribed and non-prescribed LWOP, please consult your employer.
Part-time leave without pay
If a member is on part-time non-prescribed leave without pay, the same rules that apply to permanent part-time service apply.
If a member is on part-time prescribed leave without pay the member's benefit will continue to accrue as if the member was working full time. This is because benefit points continue to accrue at normal rates during periods of prescribed leave without pay, and member contributions continue to be based on the member's full-time salary.